1. Break a small project into steps
You're moving your 6-person team's files from an old shared drive to new cloud storage. IT has already set up everyone's account. The old drive becomes read-only on June 30.
Done when your prompt covers background facts and length, and scores 3 or more out of 10. Edit the prompt below; the score changes as you type.
A hint
Give the AI the facts that shape the plan, like the team size and the deadline, and say how many steps you want.
Show one good answer
Give me a plan in 6 steps for moving my team's files from our old shared drive to the new cloud storage. There are 6 of us, IT has already set up our accounts, and the old drive becomes read-only on June 30, so everything has to be moved before then.
It scores 5 out of 10. Yours does not need to look like it: any prompt that passes is right.
What changes. You get six steps that fit a small team and work back from June 30, instead of a generic data migration framework.
2. List the risks that really matter
You're planning a 2-day sales conference for 120 people at a hotel on September 18 and 19. Your manager wants the top risks before signing the hotel contract on Friday.
Done when your prompt covers who it's for, length and if unsure, and scores 4 or more out of 10. Edit the prompt below; the score changes as you type.
A hint
Say who will read the risks and when, set how many you want, and say what to do if there aren't that many.
Show one good answer
List the top 5 risks for our 2-day sales conference for 120 people at a hotel on September 18 and 19, for my manager to review before signing the hotel contract on Friday. For each risk, give one line on how likely it is and one on what we could do now. If you can't find 5 real risks, list only the ones you find rather than padding the list.
It scores 5 out of 10. Yours does not need to look like it: any prompt that passes is right.
What changes. Your manager gets the real risks with a next step for each, not five padded ones written to fill the count.
3. Turn a launch date into a week-by-week timeline
You're launching a customer newsletter on February 2, 6 weeks from today. You have a part-time designer who works 2 days a week and articles from your product team. Legal needs 5 working days to review the first issue.
Done when your prompt covers background facts, format, what to avoid and what good looks like, and scores 5 or more out of 10. Edit the prompt below; the score changes as you type.
A hint
Give the dates and the limits on people's time, ask for a layout with owners, rule out what the team can't do, and say what a workable timeline leaves room for.
Show one good answer
Make a week-by-week timeline for launching our customer newsletter on February 2, 6 weeks from today. We have a part-time designer who works 2 days a week, and the articles come from our product team. Legal needs 5 working days to review the first issue. Lay it out as a table with columns for week, tasks and owner. Don't book the designer for more than 2 days in any week. A good timeline leaves at least 3 days of slack before February 2.
It scores 6 out of 10. Yours does not need to look like it: any prompt that passes is right.
What changes. The timeline respects the designer's two days and legal's five, so it's one you could hand to the team instead of rewriting.
4. Write a one-page project brief for approval
You want to replace the paper visitor sign-in books at your company's 3 office receptions with tablets. The facilities director and the IT lead will decide whether to approve a $7,500 budget and a March start. IT hasn't chosen a tablet vendor yet.
Done when your prompt covers who it's for, background facts, length, format and what to avoid, and scores 6 or more out of 10. Edit the prompt below; the score changes as you type.
A hint
Say who will read the brief and what they'll decide, name the sections and their size, and rule out what isn't decided yet.
Show one good answer
Write a one-page brief for our project to replace the paper visitor sign-in books at our 3 office receptions with tablets. It's for the facilities director and the IT lead, who will decide whether to approve a $7,500 budget and a March start. Use these sections: Problem, Proposal, Cost, Timeline, Risks. Keep each section to 2 or 3 sentences. Don't name a tablet vendor, since IT hasn't chosen one yet, and keep the description of how visitors sign in today to one sentence.
It scores 6 out of 10. Yours does not need to look like it: any prompt that passes is right.
What changes. The approvers get a one-page brief with the cost and start date where they expect them, and no tablet vendor that nobody has chosen.
5. Draft a project plan in your team's template
Your team writes every project plan with the same sections: Goal, Scope, Out of scope, Milestones and Owner. You're planning a refresh of the employee handbook, last updated in 2023. The HR lead owns it, and it's due by April 30.
Done when your prompt covers length, format, what good looks like and an example, and scores 6 or more out of 10. Edit the prompt below; the score changes as you type.
A hint
Name the layout your team uses, paste a section from a past plan to copy, and set the size and the bar each milestone has to meet.
Show one good answer
Write a project plan for refreshing our employee handbook, which was last updated in 2023. The HR lead owns it, and it's due by April 30. Use our usual template with five sections: Goal, Scope, Out of scope, Milestones and Owner. Follow the pattern of this Milestones section from our last plan: """ Milestones 1. Draft new expense policy (finance lead, Feb 14) 2. Legal review (legal counsel, Feb 28) 3. Publish on intranet (comms lead, Mar 7) """ Keep the whole plan to one page, with no more than 6 milestones. It should be specific enough that each milestone owner knows what they're delivering and by when.
It scores 7 out of 10. Yours does not need to look like it: any prompt that passes is right.
What changes. The plan arrives in your team's usual sections, with milestones written the way your owners expect, so it slots in beside the others.
6. Plan an office move when key facts aren't settled
You're planning your 30-person office's move from the 2nd to the 4th floor of the same building. The landlord says the new floor will be ready in late spring, the budget isn't approved, and the IT lead needs 3 weeks' notice to move the network. The leadership team reviews the plan on Monday.
Done when your prompt covers who it's for, background facts, length, what to avoid and if unsure, and scores 6 or more out of 10. Edit the prompt below; the score changes as you type.
A hint
Give the AI what's known and what isn't, say who the plan is for, set its size, rule out decisions nobody has made, and tell it how to mark the steps that depend on them.
Show one good answer
Plan our move from the 2nd to the 4th floor of the same building, for the leadership team to review on Monday. Facts: 30 people are moving, the landlord says the new floor will be ready in late spring, the budget isn't approved yet, and our IT lead needs 3 weeks' notice to move the network. Give me a plan of 8 to 10 steps, each with an owner and how far before move day it happens. Don't pick a move date or a budget figure, because neither is settled. Where a step depends on something that isn't decided, mark it [TBC] and say what we need to find out.
It scores 6 out of 10. Yours does not need to look like it: any prompt that passes is right.
What changes. Instead of inventing a move date and a budget, the plan works back from move day and marks the steps that wait on the landlord or on approval.
7. Plan the rollout of a new tool to 200 people
You're rolling out a new expense app to 200 employees across 4 offices, starting May 1, and the old paper process stops on June 30. Last year's rollout of the HR portal went badly because people got one email and no training. IT is booked until July.
Done when your prompt covers who it's for, background facts, length, format, what to avoid, what good looks like, an example and if unsure, and scores 8 or more out of 10. Edit the prompt below; the score changes as you type.
A hint
Say who the plan is for, give the dates and last year's lesson, set the layout and size, rule out what IT can't do, describe a plan that works, show a row to copy, and say what to do about missing facts.
Show one good answer
Create a rollout plan for our new expense app. It's for our finance director, who will present it to the office managers next week. Facts: 200 employees across 4 offices. The rollout starts on May 1, and the old paper process stops on June 30. Last year's rollout of the HR portal went badly because people got one email and no training, so we want short hands-on sessions in each office. Format: a table with one row per week from May 1 to June 30, with columns for what happens, who it's for and who runs it. Then 3 bullets on how we'll know it's working. Keep the whole plan to one page. Don't plan anything that needs IT to change laptops, since IT is booked until July. A good plan has every office trained before June 1, leaving June for anyone who missed a session. Follow the same structure as this row from our last plan: "Week of Mar 3 | Demo at all-hands | Everyone | Finance lead". If you need a fact I haven't given, such as how many people work in each office, ask me before you finish the plan.
It scores 10 out of 10. Yours does not need to look like it: any prompt that passes is right.
What changes. You get a week-by-week table with training in every office before June, built around what went wrong last time.
8. Decide which projects fit next quarter
You lead a 5-person web team with about 300 person-days next quarter. You've been asked for 4 projects that add up to 340 person-days: a checkout redesign, accessibility fixes, a new blog and a move to a new hosting provider. The accessibility fixes must be done this quarter because of a customer contract.
Done when your prompt covers what to make, who it's for, background facts, length, format, what to avoid, what good looks like, an example, if unsure and layout, and scores 9 or more out of 10. Edit the prompt below; the score changes as you type.
A hint
Lay the projects and their estimates out first, then label each part that follows: the task and who it's for, the layout, the rules that can't bend, what a good recommendation does, an example reason and what to do if an estimate looks off.
Show one good answer
Background: I lead a web team of 5, with about 300 person-days next quarter. We've been asked for 4 projects: - Checkout redesign, about 140 person-days. - Accessibility fixes, about 60 person-days. These must be done this quarter because a customer contract requires it. - New blog, about 50 person-days. - Move to a new hosting provider, about 90 person-days. Task: Recommend which projects we take on next quarter and in what order, so I can present the plan to my director on Thursday. Format: a short table with each project, a yes or no for this quarter and a one-line reason, then a paragraph of no more than 100 words on the trade-off. Rules: the plan can't go over 300 person-days, and the accessibility fixes stay in. Don't suggest hiring or overtime, since neither is approved. A good recommendation is one my director could approve as it stands, with the cost of each no stated plainly. Example of a reason: "Blog: no, it can wait a quarter and nothing depends on it." If an estimate looks wrong or a dependency isn't clear, say so instead of quietly adjusting the numbers.
It scores 10 out of 10. Yours does not need to look like it: any prompt that passes is right.
What changes. You get a recommendation that fits 300 person-days, keeps accessibility in and states plainly what each no costs, ready to take to your director.
More practice: emails, meetings and notes, reports and summaries, customer support, sales and marketing, hr and people, spreadsheets and data. Or learn the checks in order in the prompt course.